You Win Some, You Lose Some
by NoirGrimoir
Summary: Salem, a ghost type-crazed psychic, and Electra, Volkner's tomboy little sister, travel to the Johto league, looking for a journey full of fun and friends. They didn't expect to play mentors to Cherry, an air-headed 'cute-pokemon' fangirl and Aspen, a brooding, overly serious new trainer, but what's a journey without some surprises and a few hijinks?
1. In Which There Is a Rescue (Sort of)

**You Win Some, You Lose Some**

**Rating**: T, mostly for language, and for once I don't actually expect it to go up, but you never know.

**Genre**: Humor, Adventure, Romance, Friendship

**Pairings**: Original character pairings, Jasmine/Volkner, Morty/Sabrina.

**Summery**: Salem, a ghost type-crazed psychic, and Electra, Volkner's tomboy little sister, travel to the Johto league, looking for a journey full of fun and friends. They didn't expect to play mentors to Cherry, an airheaded 'cute-pokemon' fangirl and Aspen, a brooding, overly serious new trainer, but what's a journey without some surprises and a few hijinks?

**Notes**: And here we have a pokemon fic I've had in the works for a while. It's a mix of anime-verse and game-verse, though mostly the game-verse, in terms of characters and world. The battle set up is closer to the Anime-verse though, since I've always thought it was stupid that pokemon 'forget' attacks in the game. (If Slowking are so smart, supposedly as smart as humans, how come they still forget moves? It's a riddle for the ages...) This story has been plotted pretty far ahead, so mostly it's a matter of sitting down and writing the thing but my track record on updates is pretty terrible, so...eh. Cross your fingers. I'm trying to write much shorter chapters than I usually do. As in like half of the size. So hopefully that will help with update speed.

* * *

**You Win Some, You Lose Some**

_by Noir Grimoir_

Chapter One:

In Which There Is a Rescue. (Sort of, Not Really.)

* * *

**[Morning, Route 29, just outside Newbark Town]**

Salem had to wonder why every Pokemon Professor liked to set up their labs in nothing-towns out in the middle of nowhere. And not even interesting sorts of nowhere, like next to a volcano or in a rainforest. No, they seemed to like underpopulated villages surrounded by scenery that could only be described as _so_ average and forgettable that they must have gone out of their way to even find such a place.

Additionally, the local fauna were equally as average and forgettable. Wandering around outside of Newbark Town while he waited for Electra to finish her phone call to her brother, Salem had only managed to see more Sentret than he had energy to count, a few low-level birds that looked like Johto's Starly equivalents, and some purple rats that seemed equally as generic. He knew that he'd promised Electra that he wouldn't do anything without her, but he'd have snuck some training in anyway if the Pokedex he'd received from Professor Elm hadn't named all the pokemon species to be normal types, not to mention so weak it would have been a pointless endeavor. As a ghost-type exclusive trainer, battling normal-types was a tricky affair.

Thankfully for his sanity, he was saved from a morning of complete boredom by a sudden scream. It was quite shrill and girly, and hearing it simultaneously annoyed and enlivened him into action. As a male, he had to be ready to leap to a female's rescue at any moment—it was biologically engrained into his Y chromosome whether he liked it or not—so that was what he did.

Darting off the road leading away from Newbark Town, Salem vaulted over a line of bushes, his sudden appearance sending a flock of frantic Pidgey airborne. Tall grass whipped around him as he ducked under some tree branches, leaving the path further behind him. Hearing another scream increased his pace until he finally burst into a clearing. According to his instincts, he was right where he needed to be to perform some heroics.

His sharp eyes analyzed the scene and...were incredibly disappointed.

A vein in his forehead twitched. "The _hell_ are you doing?" he demanded of the damsel.

"Help!" the girl shouted. She looked a couple of years younger than him, her huge eyes wide and frightened. Her back was pressed against a tree as she shrank away, terrified of a Heracross curiously inching closer to her, it's head tilted in friendly fascination. When the beetle pokemon quirked it's head in the other direction, the girl wailed, throwing her arms up as if to protect herself. "Keep it away from me!" she shrieked.

He frowned. Hmm, perhaps 'damsel' wasn't the right word.

"But it's just standing there, it's not even threatening y—" Salem winced as the girl screamed again and made as if to somehow climb the tree with her eyes closed and still facing forward. Which would have been doubly interesting, as she was wearing a skirt.

The pokemon looked over at him innocently, saying, "_Heracross~?_" _What am I doing wrong? _Salem just shrugged in response to the pokemon's confusion, feeling embarrassed on the girl's behalf. The Heracross was just being amiable and here she was acting as if it had an infectious skin-eating disease.

The girl hastily felt around on her belt, producing a pokeball which she threw without looking and nearly pelted the horned-beetle in the face. "Save me!" she pleaded, possibly to whatever pokemon was housed within the ball.

Salem wasn't sure whether to feel disdain or sympathy. Actually, no, he just felt disdain.

The pokeball bounced off the ground, opening and emitting a red laser which materialized into a tough-looking Cubone.

"_Cuuu~!_" the pokemon said, slapping one end of it's bone club into the palm of it's claw.

The ground type cast a take-no-shit glare upon the scene, inspecting its surroundings for potential enemies. Noticing the girl, who screamed and stabbed an accusatory finger at her insect harasser, the Cubone immediately face-faulted into the same kind of _that-better-not-be-what-you're-screaming-about _expression that Salem had worn upon entering the clearing.

"Bones! Help me!" the girl commanded her pokemon, flapping her arms like a moron.

Bones promptly yawned and turned to laze against a nearby rock. And just to push home the fact that he really didn't give a shit, the Cubone began casually tossing it's bone club in the air and catching it with one claw without looking, just to fill the time as he thoroughly ignored his trainer.

The girl screamed again, louder.

Okay, Salem was just about at his limit on high-pitched, girlish screeching. He either needed to gag this kid or get the Heracross away from her, and since gagging felt too creepy-serial-killer, he'd have to go with the second option.

Salem looked at the Heracross. "I don't suppose you'd back off willingly, would you?" he asked it.

"_Hera~!_" _Make me!_ the pokemon responded indignantly, taking an aggressive step towards him.

What a change of tune. The pokemon didn't seem to have any intention of leaving the girl alone until she passed out from lack of oxygen due to excessive screaming. Huh, maybe the Heracross wasn't all that innocent in this situation, after all?

Salem shrugged. Alright, it looked like he was about to have his first battle in the Johto region, and despite the circumstances he was excited.

Taking the only pokeball from his belt, he tossed it. "Come on out, Charisma!"

The ball arched through the air to land right next to the Heracross. The insect pokemon, sensing a challenger, jumped back and took a ready stance, a serious expression on its face as it waited for its foe to materialize. Meanwhile the girl continued to scream, though the Heracross was now completely ignoring her.

"_Litwick~!_" Salem's newly released pokemon declared, immediately in the game and ready for action. Spying the Heracross, the little candle pokemon's blue ghost flame flickered energetically and Charisma yelled, "_Lit~!_" calling out the other pokemon boldly despite the Heracross being over twice her size and almost twice her level.

It wasn't a perfect strategical match up, Salem knew, but he had faith in the little pokemon. Charisma was sired by two of his most treasured and loyal companions: the Lampent he'd caught and raised in Unova two years ago, and the Dusknoir he'd had since it was a Duskull, caught on his first journey in his homeland of Sinnoh. When choosing a young pokemon to take with him to Johto as his starter, there could be no other. Though their bond was strong, she was still inexperienced, which put her at a disadvantage with the larger and stronger Heracross. Luckily Ghost-types were resistant to Bug-type attacks and immune to any fighting ones, and Charisma's fire attacks would have the advantage. Either way, she was the only pokemon he had on him so far, and this would be good battling experience for her.

"Alright, Charisma, its our first battle in Johto, you ready?" he asked his Litwick.

"_Lit~,_" she said with a determined nod.

Salem grinned as he called out, "Let's power up with Calm Mind!"

"_Litwick~!_" His pokemon complied by taking a deep breath, closing it's eyes and focusing until a bright aura expanded from her flame and the pokemon shone with power as her special attack and special defense rose.

The Heracross just watched the whole affair interestedly without attacking, instead shouting "_Cross~!_" and buckling down with Endure, ready for whatever the Litwick had in store. It was probably testing its opponent's strength, Salem suspected.

Once Charisma was powered up, Salem called out, "Alright, now lets get things started with a Smog and Astonish combo!"

"_Lit~!_" Charisma's blue flame flickered before a cloud of dark smoke fumed from it's tip and engulfed the Heracross in a foul miasma.

The enemy pokemon coughed and closed it's eyes against the poisonous vapors, unable to pay attention to its surroundings even if the bug could have seen them. Finally the Heracross unfurled its delicate wings, rapidly flapping them to disperse the smog before it could be affected by the gases.

"_Cross~?_" the bug pokemon said once it could see again. It's opponent was mysteriously absent from his view.

Suddenly the Heracross leaped back in fright as Salem's Litwick appeared as if from nowhere, pulling down her lower lids and sticking out her tongue in a face that was supposed to be scary but was mostly just cute. Whatever, it did it's job in startling the bejeezus out of the beetle pokemon.

"Good job, Charisma!" Salem said to his pokemon. "Let's keep up the pace!"

The Heracross recovered quickly. "_Hera~cross~!_" the pokemon shouted, annoyed, and then began to build up a glowing attack in one claw.

Salem grimaced. "Oh, _shit._" This was bad. Night Slash was a Dark-type move, and Ghosts-types were weak to Dark-type attacks. Not only that, but Litwick were _not_ fast pokemon, dodging it was an impossibility. Salem felt like banging his head against a rock for being so dumb as to forget Heracross learned that move. Stupid, stupid, stupid...

"Confuse Ray, Charisma, quick!" he commanded and his pokemon was right with him.

"_Wick~!_" she affirmed.

The Heracross adopted a focused gaze, it's claw now shining with a dark, eerie light. As the ghost pokemon's flame flickered and split off into a bright orb, hurtling towards her attacker, the beetle continued it's stampede, raising it's claw to perform the Night Slash. The candle pokemon reacted like a seasoned battler, not even flinching as the huge beetle rushed to attack, hitting the Confuse Ray head on. The Heracross immediately went cross-eyed and stumbled in it's charge, sliding along the ground and kicking up gravel and weeds, justmissing the little ghost.

Salem sighed in relief. Was it silly to say his heart was beating out of his chest with nerves? Ugh, he felt like a parent taking their kid to their first day of kindergarten. Only, you know, the parent didn't usually expect the kids there to be twice their child's size and out to knock them unconscious. Or _hopefully_ they didn't. That would sure be a scary kindergarten...

Only an instant later, the Heracross stood up from the ground, shaking it's head clear of the confusion.

"That was a close one there, Charisma, great job," Salem encouraged his pokemon, though he found the Heracross's recovery speed from the Confuse Ray to be incredibly unfair. "Now, before it turns around, give it an Ember attack!"

"_Lit~wick~!_" Charisma's little flame blazed up and spurted burning embers in all directions. The Heracross threw up it's arms to ward them off but was still badly burned.

"_Cross~!_" the Heracross shouted angrily. Beating its wings so fast they thrummed, it flew into the air. One moment it was hovering above the clearing, the next it dove on the Litwick from the sky, swooping in fast for an Aerial Ace.

Lightning quick, Salem considered the situation. As a flying-type move, Aerial Ace wasn't especially effective against his pokemon, but her low level meant every bit of fatigue or injury was crucial to avoid. She couldn't withstand this kind of brutal attack for long, even if she wasn't weak to it. "Another Ember attack, Charisma, try and keep it away from you!" he ordered.

Charisma complied, shaking glowing sparks into the air, but the Heracross continued it's line of attack, ignoring the embers wafting around the ghost in a protective haze. Embers flew up into the beetle's face, clearly doing damage, but it didn't slow down in the least.

"_Wick..._" his pokemon murmured nervously, her confidence beginning to wane.

"Charisma, quick, get out of the way!" Salem yelled frantically, but he knew she wouldn't be able to.

A cloud of dust kicked up from the attacking pokemon's velocity as it hurtled through the air, just above the ground. The Litwick made a desperate leap to the side as the Heracross sped towards her like a jet, but it wasn't enough to throw her clear completely. The Heracross winged the candle pokemon on the arm, throwing her across the clearing with it's formidable horn.

"_Wi~ick~!_" she cried out nursing her injuries and the bug looped up in it's swoop, away from her.

"Charisma!" Salem leaped to his pokemon's side immediately, for an instant fearing the worst. He was beginning to regret his decision to have her battle an obviously stronger opponent. "Are you okay?"

Charisma nodded but her face was tense as she gave the affirmative. Tears had filled the little pokemon's eyes from the pain of her injury but her expression became more determined than ever. She was hurting but it would take more than this to keep her out of the fight. His call for her to return died before it left his lips. There was no way he could stop her from finishing this battle.

Salem sighed. Okay, they could still do this.

"_Cross~cross~!_" the Heracross angrily taunted from the air.

If it thought it was safe up there, it was wrong. "Charisma, let's finish this. Give it a taste of your Fire Spin!" Salem commanded.

"_Lit~!_" she said and her ghost-flame flared up as she took a breath like an opening bellows and blew bright orange fire at the Heracrcoss. The opponent cried out from it's burns and flew higher in an attempt to get away from the whirlwind of fire. It dove and looped through the air, trying to escape, but Charisma sent her flames after it, not letting it get away until finally her breath ran out and she had to stop her fiery onslaught.

If the bug pokemon wasn't pissed before, it definitely was now. Salem could tell by the way it was stringing curses together in pokemon-speech and making some pretty vulgar suggestions that Salem could honestly say had never been said to him by a pokemon before. People, sure, but not pokemon.

"This thing really doesn't know when to give up, does it?" he said and Charisma gave a "_Lit~!"_ of agreement.

"_Cross~!_" the insect called in frustration and flung out it's claw, preparing another Night Slash.

Damn, this was a pretty smart bug. It had known not to use any of it's normal or fighting-type attacks without even having to try them. Whatever else it was, the pokemon seemed to be an experienced battler. Salem bit his lip as he rapidly considered their options, though there really weren't any good ones. One hit from that attack and it would be all over for his brave little Litwick.

He commanded, "Charisma, it's trying to use Night Slash again, trap it with another Fire Spin!"

The candle pokemon gave a, _"Lit~!"_ of understanding and as the Heracross began it's descent from the air to slash her, the ghost pokemon puffed up it's chest before releasing another bright ribbon of flames in the bug's direction.

But the Heracross was ready, and used it's speed to dodge the wreath of fire, coming at the other pokemon from the side. Salem yelled for Charisma to dodge, but it was clear the little ghost wouldn't have enough time. Instantly he felt horrible guilt. Salem should have known better than to bring the new pokemon out to battle a much stronger opponent, and Charisma was going to get badly hurt because of his miscalculation.

"_Cuu~bone~!_"

Salem frowned. Huh?

The screaming girl's Cubone, Bones, had suddenly appeared in front of the flinching Charisma, it's orange claw held out to casually block the bug pokemon's attack with ease.

The Heracross leaped back to glare down the skull-wearing pokemon, who was eying the beetle with haughty contempt.

"_Bone~!_" the Cubone accused it's opponent, who spat out, "_Heracross~!_" back.

Pointing it's bone club at the bug pokemon menacingly, Bones delivered a litany of '_Cubone~!'_s that amounted to the promise of a beat-down with the club should the Heracross make a move.

"You do realize that Heracross is resistant to ground attacks, right?" Salem interjected between the battling pokemon's verbal argument.

Bones stabbed his club at the meddling trainer and angrily spat, "_Bone~!_" _Shut up!_

"Geez, fine," Salem grumbled and rolled his eyes. Apparently his assistance was unwanted. Not that the pokemon seemed to need it by the way it was handling the Heracross, but hey, he was a trainer—giving advice from the sidelines was kind of his job description.

The Heracross huffed, smoke practically coming out of it's ears as it rushed in with a glowing Horn Attack. The Cubone leveled it's club, aimed, and threw.

The bone zoomed end over end, pinwheeling directly into the bug pokemon, striking it with precision force directly in the center of it's forehead. The Heracross's eyes rolled up in their sockets and the pokemon fell from the air in a dead faint. The bone club swung back and Bones deftly caught it without even looking.

"_Bone~!_" he said with a definitive nod. _And stay down! _

Salem started an obnoxious slow clap that his Litwick joined a moment later.

"_Cuu~b__one~!_" the Cubone whipped around to snap at the trainer, making a threatening move with his club.

Salem shrugged. "Hey, you expect me to be impressed? Charisma wore it down for you." Not that Salem wasn't grateful that the pokemon had stepped in when he did, but he wasn't digging the attitude.

"_Lit~!_" Charisma agreed with a nod, albeit it a bit more diplomatically, before wincing and holding her battered arm against her.

The Cubone stuck it's nose in the air. "_Buh-bone~!_" _See if I ever help you again._

Salem ignored the grouchy pokemon and tended to his own. Walking over to kneel down next to his trooper and look her over, he found that the injury wasn't pretty but nothing that urgently needed a pokemon center. Some healing items and a good rest in her ball should do the trick.

"Oh man, I'm sorry Charisma. I'll give it a good spray of potion," he told her, rummaging in his satchel for the item. The ghost pokemon gave a, "_Lit~!_" that was possibly more pitiful than the wound warranted, and held out her arm for medication and sympathy.

"That was amazing!" Salem heard and looked up from his pokemon to see the girl he'd just...er, saved? She hadn't really been in any danger from that Heracross...and her Cubone ended up finishing it off so...eh, whatever, he wouldn't think too hard about it. A victory was a victory, after all.

Now that she wasn't making his ears bleed with gratuitous screaming, Salem took the time to examine her properly.

The girl was just a kid, thirteen or fourteen, with wild, strawberry-colored shoulder-length hair and the biggest, most naive pink eyes he'd ever seen. To be perfectly frank, she looked like an air-headed ditz, which meant there was either a complete genius hiding under the facade or she was exactly what she seemed. Salem wasn't one to judge (much), but the way she'd handled that Heracross lead him to suspect the latter. While she might just be completely phobic of Heracross, experience meeting a lot of different trainers told him that she knew jack-shit about pokemon, despite how well her Cubone performed. The girl was also wearing a skirt over calf-length black leggings and sandals, and while some girls were silly enough to go on pokemon journeys wearing skirts, most were at least smart enough to wear comfortable shoes. On that note, he was guessing this girl was a new trainer. If she'd been doing this very long she'd have purchased some new footwear by now.

"Yeah, Charisma did really well," he answered her, mostly for his pokemon's benefit. He gave Charisma's arm a good misting with the potion spray and the pokemon blew on it to ease the burning sensation as it healed her wounds.

"I wish I could battle like that," the girl said forlornly, looking down at her feet. Tears started pooling in the corners of her eyes and she sniffled. "Everyone thinks I'm dumb, that I can't do anything right, but I really want to be a trainer. I want to show everyone I can be strong, too!"

Salem's eyes widened in panic. Whoa, _hold up_. He had _not_ signed on for this.

"No, uh...I'm sure you can be," he stuttered hastily, scratching his head. "I mean, look at your Cubone, he's pretty tough."

Bones said, "_Cuu~!_" and puffed out his chest.

The girl sniffled again. "He's—_sniffle_—not mine, he's my big sister's," she gurgled and then burst into full-fledged sobs.

Salem winced. Well, shit.

"_Litwick~!_" Charisma looked up at him and gave her trainer a glare of disapproval as if this were all _his_ fault. Which it totally wasn't, but at least his pokemon was feeling better if it could make the effort to scold him.

"Well, uh..." Salem trailed off, trying to think of something to say. "Well, what's your name?" was the best he could come up with.

"_Sniffle—_it's Cherry—_sniffle," _the girl replied, rubbing at her eyes, still leaking tears.

Okay, they were making progress. Maybe. "So, uh, Cherry," Salem began, "I'm guessing you're a new trainer."

She nodded from behind her hands and answered with a watery sound that might have been a '_yes_'. Salem sighed in relief. He had the perfect speech ready to plug up those waterworks.

"Hey, it takes time and experience to be a good battler," he explained to Cherry with a comforting hand on her shoulder, using the same voice he adopted to console the new junior trainers that were afraid they couldn't hack it, back when he was one himself in Hearthome City under Fantina. "You can't expect to be an expert at it on your first try. So don't worry about. I'm sure you'll catch on to it in no time."

Cherry perked up from behind her hands, giving him puffy but hope-filled eyes. "You_—sniffle—_really think so?" she asked him.

"Yeah, definitely," Salem assured her with a smile and an encouraging thumbs up.'_No time'_ might have been an overstatement in Cherry's case, but he wanted her to stop crying. Lying was not beneath his dignity.

From next to Cherry, her sister's Cubone rolled it's eyes and spat, "_Bone~!_" It was definitely not a sound of agreement, but the girl seemed to take it that way. She gave a last sob and wiped her eyes, looking much happier. Since this was really all Salem cared about he didn't bother pointing out that her sister's Cubone thought she was an idiot.

"Thanks," she said with a bright smile, then held out her hand. "I'm Cherry." (Yeah, you said that already...)."I live in Newbark Town," she added as if this was supposed to matter to him.

Salem's lip twitched as he fought to hold his smile, which wanted to melt into a frown of exasperation. "I'm Salem, from Sunyshore, in Sinnoh," he told her, taking her offered hand. He tried to shake it properly but she wasn't helping at all, it just sat in his hand limp like a dead fish. Ugh.

At the word 'Sinnoh', Cherry gasped, her eyes glittering. "Ahh! They have Pachirisu in Sinnoh!" she squealed. "They are _so_ cute. I really want one!"

A vein in Salem's forehead twitched. Oh _God_, not a 'cute pokemon' fan. He really hated that kind of superficial trainer.

She gasped again, and put her hands together excitedly. "Oh my goodness, you don't actually _have _one do you?!" she demanded to know. Her normally big eyes were now approximately the size of saucers. Big, sparkly, frightening saucers.

He was going to have to disappoint her, but at this point he wasn't sure if that was safe. "No, I'm a ghost-type specialist," Salem informed her, leaning away from the crazed pokemon fangirl like she had rabies. He was almost a head taller than her but that apparently wasn't enough to deter her from getting in his face on tip-toe.

Cherry sat back on her heels. "Oh," she said disappointingly. "Ghost pokemon aren't very cute."

Salem's polite smile abruptly snapped into a scowl. Oh, she did _not _just insult Ghost-type pokemon in front of him.

"Take that back!" he demanded vehemently. Scooping up the confused Charisma, he held her in front of him. "Ghost pokemon are _extremely_ cute! Just look at Charisma, here!"

"_Lit~!_" Charisma agreed, preening.

"See? Fucking adorable as hell!"

Cherry blinked at the little ghost curiously. "I've never seen that type of pokemon before," she said and it didn't surprise him in the least. Hell, she'd probably never watched anything even remotely educational about pokemon on TV in her life, much less picked up a book on the subject. Probably wasting her time watching _The_ _Real Housewives of Celadon City_ or some useless shit like that.

She swung a heart-shaped mini backpack off her shoulder, stuck her hand inside, and pulled out a pokedex. Awkwardly pointing it like someone who wasn't used to using one and thought it was some super-complicated piece of equipment (which it wasn't), she pressed the scan button. A little light flashed and the top flipped open showing a picture of a Litwick on the screen.

"_Litwick, the Candle Pokemon_," Dexter said in a mechanical voice. "_It shines a light that absorbs the life energy of people and Pokémon, which becomes the fuel that it burns."_

Cherry's eyes widened in fright, eying the innocent little ghost pokemon's blue-purple flame. "_Lit~! Lit~wick~!_" Charisma said amiably. She liked making friends, even with air-headed ditzes, a behavior which he didn't really understand but until now hadn't minded.

"She's a soul burning machine," Salem told Cherry gravely. More because it was hilarious than because it was true. It wasn't as if Charisma was going to leach out the girl's energy right that moment.

"Um, oh," Cherry whispered timidly and slowly backed away. Charisma wilted, crying, "_Wick~?_" sadly at the rejection.

Salem rolled his eyes. "I'm _kidding_, she's harmless." Well, unless you pissed her off, but since Charisma loved everyone that was actually pretty difficult.

He hugged his Litwick, both to cheer her up and because he was just that insanely in love with Ghost-type pokemon. "_Wiiick~!_" Charisma said happily and rubbed his face with hers. So cute! Who the hell said Ghost pokemon were anything but completely adorable? Salem ought to drop kick this chick into a whole _colony_ of hellaciously affectionate Heracross.

"_Buh-bone~! Cuu~bone~! Bone~!_" Bones complained. He didn't like anything remotely mushy. He also didn't like stupid humans wasting his time. Salem vaguely wondered if the pokemon actually had anything better to do.

"But anyways," Salem said, "what are you doing out here in the middle of the woods with your older sister's Cubone?"

Cherry looked down, ashamed at her incompetence. "She let me borrow him to catch a Sentret to be my starter pokemon," she said and held up a few unused pokeballs as proof.

He raised an eyebrow. "A Sentret? Really? _That's_ the pokemon you want as a starter?" The thing about starter pokemon was that you could either supply your own or go through the starter program, in which case you got to choose from three pokemon which were different from league to league. It was a pretty good deal if you didn't have access to any pokemon that you liked better. The pokemon were rare and pretty powerful, not like a stupid Sentret (not that Sentret were stupid, they were just mediocre and abundant and not ghost type, so he wasn't interested). The hell kind of brain damage did this chick have?

Oblivious to his disapproval, Cherry nodded and clapped her hands together with a grin as she squealed. "They are so cute!"

Salem face-faulted. Oh, of course_. _

"Right...," Salem trailed off skeptically. He didn't think they were all that cute, but then there were a million of the things running around here. He suspected that they were probably considered nuisances by most people. And really, a _Sentret_? It was almost sad.

Cherry sighed and gave a sniffle as new tears sprouted in her eyes. "I guess it's just as well the Heracross showed up. I don't really know what I'm doing—_sniff_."

Oh _hell _no. There wouldn't be anymore waterworks if Salem had anything to say about it. It was annoying and unfair!

"Well _that's_ easy enough to fix," Salem told her quickly. "I saw about twenty of those damn things scampering around back along the path that way. Grab Bones and I'll help you."

Cherry looked up, excited. "Really? You'd do that?"

"Sure, now let's go," he said, recalled his pokemon and grabbed Cherry by the wrist to drag her back towards the road before she thought up something else to cry about.

* * *

**[Meanwhile, back on the outskirts of Newbark Town...]**

Electra was pretty damn pissed. Salem had very specifically told her he'd be waiting just outside of the small town after she finished her phone call with her brother. Now her call was over, and she was waiting, right outside of town, just as they'd agreed, and he was nowhere to be seen!

"So typical...," she complained to herself. Knowing him, Salem probably thought he'd seen something that could, maybe, possibly, almost-have-been a ghost pokemon and taken off after it or something. She swore when it came to anything other than ghost types the guy's attention span was nonexistent these days.

The trainer paced in a circle, hoping her friend would magically pop up from behind a bush somehow. When nothing of the kind occurred she wasn't especially surprised but she _was_ even more annoyed.

Electra stomped her foot angrily. _Ugh! _Some best friend _he_ was, ditching her like this. This was supposed to be _their _adventure, _together. _Not another replay of 'See you, Electra, while I go off and have fun without you in Unova!'

She sighed, contemplating the ground that was so very lacking in Salem right now.

Electra remembered how lonely she'd felt the last few years. Sunyshore was a big city, but it had somehow seemed like there weren't a lot of kids around her age. Or at least none that understood her. She was a tomboy, electric-pokemon crazed and idolizing her big brother, Volkner, the Elite trainer and Gym leader, as well his best friend, Elite Four member Flint.

They were so cool, and she was just the tag-along kid who couldn't seem to fit in anywhere at the local elementary school. She didn't like playing dolls with the prissy girls and most of the boys didn't want a girl around while they banged Blastoise figures together and jumped in the mud. She was too hyperactive to sit down and read or doodle or any of those things with the quiet kids and she was too social to stick it out as a loner. Everyone else seemed to think she was stuck up because her brother was a Gym Leader. Kids could be cruel, not that they knew any better.

Enter Salem. He'd been two years older than her, which by default meant he should have been too cool to even look down his nose at someone her age, but for some reason he wasn't. It had made her really happy, that one day during recess, when he plopped in front of her and unilaterally decided that they were going to play-act as pokemon. She didn't even know him, but it didn't really matter because she was totally down with that idea. He could have been a Grimer and she'd have still leaped for it.

That day they ran around like idiots—her playing an arm-flapping Zapdos, him a bow-legged Alakazam. When he walked her home from school that afternoon, she was a not-very-scary-looking Electabuzz and he'd taken to saying "Hypno! Hypno!" while pretending to swing a pendulum. The rest was history.

She didn't know till later that he was '_The Weird Kid'_, not exactly a social outcast but enough of an oddball not to be paired off with any particular group of people. Most everyone liked him well enough, but no one was really very close. He was a psychic, like Saffron City's Sabrina, or Ecruteak's Morty, but listening to him you'd think it was nothing special. It was just a random skill he had, like being able to lick your elbow or burp the alphabet. It was just useful for him, since he wanted to be a pokemon trainer and being a little telepathic really helped in raising some pokemon, like Psychic and Ghost types. The whole Ghost-mania thing came later.

They'd been two peas in a pod ever since. Always at one-another's houses, they had each others' backs when the school bully came around, (Salem screamed like a girl while she kicked the kid in the shins, it was a real double-team). They supported each other in their dreams of pokemon fame, argued over the superiority of Electric vs. Ghost types (Electric were still the best, of course), and got told off by her brother for reeking havoc in his gym when he was trying to renovate it. Good times.

But then he just had to mess everything up by leaving! Fourteen, and he went and challenged the Sinnoh league without her, while she sat around in boring old Sunyshore, minus one best friend, trying to convince her father and older brother that she was old enough to be a trainer and travel the world, (apparently there was a downside to being "_Daddy's baby girl."_). Ten-year-olds got to go on pokemon journeys alone and she was twelve, plenty old enough, but try telling _them _that! Her dad, the former sea captain and current Port Commissioner, just frowned every time she brought it up and Volkner flat-out forbade her, (as if _he _had a right to tell her what to do!)

Meanwhile, Salem worked his way up the gym roster, gallivanting around with some people she didn't even know! Salem was going to forget about her, she just knew it. He'd be a great trainer, have all kinds of friends and cool pokemon and get famous and she'd be left with nothing. Even his visit to Sunyshore to challenge her brother (while using certified gym-level pokemon, it wasn't as if Salem could win against her brother if Volkner went all out) didn't reassure her. It really hit home that he was older than her and she didn't really have any business associating with him, she should be with kids her own age. It was just that none of the kids her age were _Salem_.

She watched his battles at the Sinnoh Conference, cheered for him, been really proud when he managed to place in the Top 16, but it wasn't the same as being there. She wanted to battle too, it just wasn't fair!

Another year, another league for Salem and another round of begging and pleading and crying and whining for her brother and father to let her be a trainer. Electra pulled out all the stops, she brought her mom in to work on her father (Mom was good for things like that), and got her brother's best friend Flint and _his _younger brother Buck in on the scheme. She even worked pranks she'd sworn to never pull again on pain of grounding for eternity, in protest of the inhumane treatment. It was a long, harsh battle, but eventually she got her way. Her father relented and her brother was made to deal with the decision. By the time the Unova Conference special played on the TV she was bouncing off the walls, fantasizing about her own journey.

Salem placed in the Top 16 again, representing Sunyshore well and promising to spend a year at home. Electra already had a vague idea that, even though he'd already done the Sinnoh league, he'd still travel with her somehow, but that ended up being a naive dream. Until this point Salem had used mixed pokemon teams that tended towards psychic, ghost and dark-types with the occasional oddball for good measure. He'd always praised ghost-types as his favorite but until he'd gotten back from Unova, being a specialist hadn't seemed to be on his radar. But not his first day back and his mind was made up. Electra started her journey, traveling with a group of kids she'd met at Professor Rowan's and Salem had been accepted as a junior trainer under Fantina, the Ghost gym leader in Hearthome, studying and taking care of Ghost-type pokemon.

It had been fun. She'd learned a lot, but it just wasn't the same. Something still wasn't right.

After the Sinnoh conference was over, she'd taken the early bus to Hearthome City, marched into the gym passed Fantina, who was practicing for a pokemon contest, ignored the, "Hey, Electra," from Daver, one of the other junior trainers for the gym, and kicked down the dormitory door like it was made of graham cracker.

"Salem Murkins! Get your ass out here!" she'd demanded, hands on her hips and determination in her eyes.

"Nuwah?" he mumbled wincing from the light before trying to burrow further beneath his covers. He was half asleep, still in his bunk at ten in the morning. Floating next to him above the bed, curled up in a sleeping position, his Gengar protested at the sudden intrusion.

"_Gengar~Gengar~!_" the pokemon complained. Electra had just woken him up apparently. She'd always considered the Gengar to be a bit sarcastic and snappish, even without Salem's occasional translations, and Electra suspected the ghost pokemon was cursing at her with the foulest language it knew. She wasn't psychic though, so she couldn't know for sure.

"Sorry, Fog," she apologized, but the Gengar didn't look like it had forgiven her. Whatever, she'd make it up to him later.

Salem sat up slowly in his bed and rubbed his face as Electra stalked into the room and glared down at her best friend, considering punching him in the shoulder just to wake him up faster.

"Hm? 'Lectra? Whatcha doin' here?" Salem said, blinking his eyes at her sleepily, speech slurred almost beyond comprehension.

"You are coming with me to the Johto league, whether you like it or not," she announced, tone leaving no room for argument, not that he was conscious enough to even know that he might want to argue.

Salem frowned and made a face. "The Johto-what?"

Electra rolled her eyes. "The_ Johto league? _You know, one of those pokemon gym leagues neither of us has been to yet?"

Her friend made a face right back. "Yeah, I know what it is, I'm just confused..."

"_Gar~! Gengar~!_"Fog complained, hovering in the air on his side, propping his head up with a claw, and watching the conversation with a look of irritated boredom.

"Hey, shut up," Salem told his pokemon, wearing an alarmed expression. Electra didn't even want to know what he'd said.

Used to it, Electra ignored the bad-tempered ghoul and continued talking to Salem. "What's there to be confused about? We're going, you and me. Together."

"Well, for starters, what are you doing in my room?" he asked, then added, "Wait, we _are_ still in Hearthome City, right? I've never really had a problem with teleporting in my sleep. Mostly because I suck at teleporting."

Electra considered smacking herself in the face, or maybe smacking Salem in the face, but his Gengar was on it and yelled various '_Gengar~!'_s at it's trainer that didn't sound very complimentary.

"Ugh! Pay attention, Salem!" Electra said. "You're in Hearthome and this is Daver's and your room at the Gym, why would you teleport into a room that happened to look exactly like it, with your Gengar here?"

"That...is a good point," he answered between his Gengar pulling on his cheek as some sort of punishment.

Electra nodded to herself. "So, I just came to tell you that we're going, in one month."

Salem rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Johto, huh? Why there, isn't Kanto closer?"

"Because my brother is going there to see Jasmine while we'll be there," she explained. "Also because I really want a Mareep and a Chinchou."

Salem rolled his eyes. "You and Chinchou..."

Electra made a face. "They're cool!" she defended.

"They're, like...electric-type," Salem mused obtusely, and Electra suspected most of his brain was still asleep. "But also water-type. In one. But they're opposites_. _It shouldn't be possible."

Electra sighed and shook her head. Salem could be really smart but he could also be phenomenally dumb. "I'd ask if you're on drugs but you're always like this in the mornings. Besides, you have a Sableye, it's Ghost and Dark type, it's a complete contradiction."

Salem perked up at the mention of his Sableye and Electra immediately knew she'd made a mistake in bringing up ghost pokemon in even a tangential way. She'd never get him off the topic now.

"Ah, Jewel my Sableye, how I love you so..." he cued hugging an imaginary Sableye as he thought about the real pokemon which was probably somewhere in the building right this moment raising hell, as the trickster was wont to do. "Hey, did you know that I had to battle this prick from Hoenn to make him trade for her? He didn't know how to take care of a ghost-type properly at all!"

"I've heard the story like five times," she deadpanned.

"It's an epic story, right?"

Electra had sighed and walked out of his room. "Whatever. I'm going to watch Fantina practice until you wake up properly."

And the rest was recent history. Now they were both (supposed to be) on their first league journey together as traveling companions—but of course he wasn't around.

_Ugh_, if Electra had known Salem was going to ditch her the first chance he got, she would have put a leash on the guy as soon as they stepped off the ferry...

"_Cherry!_" she heard someone call out. A few seconds later the call was repeated, from closer. "_Che-erry!_"

The heck was going on? Electra looked behind her to spy a boy trotting along the path from town, worriedly calling out in all directions as if looking for someone. The boy saw Electra standing in the path and ran over.

"Hey, excuse me," he said, stopping in front of her and pausing to catch his breath, as she responded with with an interested, '_Yeah?_'

The boy looked about fourteen and ready for some hard journeying. His hair was pale and kept back from his eyes by a sideways twisted black visor with the official pokemon league symbol on its bill. His clothes were layered and durable: a light long-sleeved T-shirt with a short sleeved button-up thrown over it, and those pants that had more pockets than anyone could possibly need with zippers to turn them into shorts. Electra was guessing he was a trainer, though how experienced she couldn't tell.

"Have you seen a pink-haired girl about my age around here?" the boy asked her.

Electra didn't even have to think about it. She'd seen no one and nothing but Sentret, Pidgey, and foliage since she'd left the town. Which was the problem, really.

"No, I haven't seen anybody," she told him with a shrug. "I'm actually waiting for a friend who was supposed to meet me here, but he still hasn't shown up either..."

The boy's expression became grim as he said, "Damn," and then frowned at the road in consideration. "Cherry and I both live in New Bark. She told me she was coming out here to catch a Sentret, but that was hours ago and she still hasn't come back. I was getting worried so I came to look for her," he explained.

Electra eyed the idyllic scenery with its quaint road, rolling meadows covered in wildflowers and bright, airy woods. Dangerous wilderness it was not. It certainly didn't look as dangerous as Eterna Forest or the Great Marsh back in Sinnoh, anyway. The various small pokemon who would ordinarily be nothing but snacks to larger ones in her experience, were openly traipsing around in the grass along the road, not a care in the world. If the pokemon who actually lived here didn't think the place had any hazardous creatures about then there was no reason she should. They were the ones that ought to know, after all. Their lives depended on it.

"I don't know the area," Electra confessed to the boy, "but it looks like mostly lower level pokemon tend to hang out on this route, so she's probably fine."

"Hopefully," the boy said, not sounding confident. Electra was a bit confused by this. Did he know something she didn't or was he just paranoid or over-protective? Was he the girl's brother? Or maybe her boyfriend?

Trying to reassure him, Electra said, "I wouldn't worry about her. I mean, what are the chances that some big, scary-something would pop out and attack an innocent traveler walking out of—"

_Slink...rustle...rustle, rustle...slink...snap!_

Electra whipped around, her senses alert. The boy flinched as well, eying their surroundings warily. Whatever they'd just heard moving around didn't sound like a Sentret or a Pidgey, but something bigger. _Much_ bigger.

Scanning a copse of trees that suddenly looked a lot more sinister, she watched as a heavy branch shook and the foliage beneath them made way for something cloaked in shadows.

She stabbed a finger at the unidentified creature, slinking around in the shade of the trees._"What _the heck is that?" she demanded.

Her companion swallowed nervously as he squinted at whatever was being obscured by a dark shadow cast by the branches of a lopsided tree. "I'm not sure...," he said and pulled out a pokedex from one of his many pockets and pointed it at the huge swathe of darkness uncoiling from behind a tree trunk. The pokedex scanned the unidentified pokemon and made a _ding!_ sound as it brought up a picture on the screen.

"_Arbok, the Cobra Pokemon,_" the machine said, displaying a picture of a huge snake. "_The pattern on its belly is for intimidation. It constricts foes when they are frozen in fear._"

Electra had never met an Arbok in the wild, but she'd watched Professor Oak's highly informative television show on TPN, The Pokemon Network, enough to know that the results of such a meeting could be dangerous. As in anything that met it tended to become snake food.

Great. Just Perfect. She was about to be eaten by the biggest goddamn snake she'd ever seen in her life, and Salem wasn't even there to be eaten with her. If she lived through this, he was _so_ getting a kick to the face...

Her eye twitched as the pokemon's serpentine purple tail—an appendage that was _easily_ thicker than her _waist—_passed through a patch of sunlight, confirming the mystery animal's identity. An instant later, hungry, reflective red eyes materialized in the dark hollow.

"The hell is _that_ doing here?" she whispered shrilly to her fellow prey, both of them transfixed by the glowing eyes, praying to God or Buddha or Arceus or whoever the hell that the giant snake would just slither on its way.

"I...I think it might have wandered over from Route 27, the road leading in the other direction from town. There are a lot of strong pokemon down that way," boy speculated, taking a slow, fearful step backwards without letting his eyes glance away from the hidden Arbok currently stalking them.

"I don't _actually_ care where it came from, kid. I just have no idea what the heck we're supposed to do about this thing before it _eats us._"

The boy frowned. "My name is Aspen, not kid."

Electra rolled her eyes. They were about to _die_ and he was annoyed that she'd called him 'kid'? What was _up_ with this generation? Its priorities were all out of whack.

"Well, nice to meet you, I'm Electra," she told him sarcastically. "Got any ideas on how to stay alive, _Aspen_?"

They both watched as the Arbok slithered out from beneath the shade of the trees, uncoiling its massive body and splaying it's hood as it raised up on it's stomach to eye its surroundings.

Aspen looked over at her for help. "Uh...I don't suppose you have a pokemon strong enough to battle it, do you?"

"Yeah, but they're all back in Sinnoh," she answered, wishing it weren't the case. She didn't care how high of a level that Arbok was, against Echo, her Magneton back at home, this snake wouldn't stand a chance. "All I have with me is my Shinx and the egg my brother just transferred to me. You?"

Aspen looked sort of green as he admitted, "I just got my Totodile today. It hasn't even had a battle yet. Hell, I haven't even _named _it yet."

"Well, fuck." That was really all there was to say.

The giant snake spied them and its forked tongue flicked out, tasting the air. "_Sssha~! Sshaaar~bok~!" _it hissed and opened its mouth to reveal fangs approximately the size of epidermic needles. Yeah, she wasn't liking the looks of that at all.

"And_ that's_ our cue to run," Electra said.

"Huh?"

Electra grabbed Aspen by the arm and yelled, "_Run!_" dragging him after her as she did the only thing she could think of that might possibly give them a chance.

* * *

**Event Summery:**

_**- Bones** and **Charisma** defeated **Heracross**!_

_**- Bones** received experience!_

_- Salem's **Charisma** received experience!_

_- Salem's **Charisma** became **level 12**!_

_**- Electra** and **Aspen** encountered a Wild **Arbok**!_


	2. In Which Psychic Powers Are Useless

**Notes**: Thank you to anyone who read! This is probably the only chapter where Cherry is so annoying. She starts maturing after this. I didn't go over this chapter quite as much as the previous one, so if you see any type-os or errors, feel free to pm me and I'll fix them. I prefer that to mentioning them in reviews.

**You Win Some, You Lose Some**

_by Noir Grimoir_

Chapter Two:

In Which Psychic Powers Are Useless and There Is a _Real_ Rescue.

* * *

**[A few minutes earlier, and slightly down the road...]**

Cherry's new mentor in Pokemon-catching led her back through the woods until they came upon the road. She was glad Salem seemed to know where he was going, since despite having lived in the area all her life, she'd been pretty lost by the time she ran into that creepy Heracross. Yet another reason people seemed to think she wouldn't be able to hack it as a trainer—Cherry was constantly getting lost.

Oh, who was she kidding? Her two older sisters were the ones with the talent. Ruby was an actress for _Pokestar Studios,_ Primrose was an assistant pokemon researcher, and she was just Cherry, who always needed someone to bail her out of trouble and explain things too many times. She was just _tired_ of it! Tired of everyone saying, "Well, she can't help it, she's just a bit _slow_." Cherry just wanted to show that she could do something on her own, that she had some talent, too, but so far that plan didn't seem to be working out quite like she'd hoped it would.

She gnawed on her lower lip. No, Cherry couldn't think that way. She'd show everyone for sure, she just had to try really hard to learn, and this person who'd saved her from that awful Heracross seemed like the perfect teacher. Or at least an available teacher that didn't yet realize his student had a reputation for being a dunce.

This Salem guy _was_ a bit weird though, in her opinion, just from what she'd already seen. He talked to pokemon like he understood what they were saying, which possibly reflected his sanity. And he dressed, er, _uniquely_ as well, in black skinny-jeans, a black turtleneck and a white pullover, or something, that had a deep V-neck and shredded hems like a home-made ghost costume. Salem was tall and pale and possibly wearing black eyeliner, his spiky black hair held back by a rolled white bandana with his bangs left to hang free. For some reason he adored creepy _ghost _pokemon of all things, and reconsidering his appearance, she could see how they sort of resembled each other, now that she thought of it. But Salem seemed pretty strong, and willing to help her out, so she supposed she shouldn't judge that he dressed like he thought every day must be Halloween.

Cherry realized she was being addressed and blinked. "Huh?" she said, feeling ashamed for spacing out.

"I said, repeat back to me what I told you about pokemon catching on the way here," Salem said to her as he scoped out a likely looking patch of tall grass and led the girl over to it.

"Oh, okay," Cherry said, taking a breath to calm herself and rethink back to the short lecture he'd given her. "First, I have to, uh, find a pokemon and battle it with my pokemon."

When Salem nodded in approval she exhaled sharply, relieved that she answered a question right. Things were looking up! "Good," her teacher said, "What next?"

Feeling more confident, Cherry repeated back, "Then, when it's tired, I throw the pokeball at it, and if I weakened it enough it should be caught."

Salem smiled at her, giving another nod of approval and a thumbs up that was corny but none the less appreciated. Cherry beamed back feeling a sense of accomplishment at proving her worth as a student. Things were finally going to start going right for her, she could just _tell._

"Yep, and that's basically it," Salem told her. "Pretty simple, right? Anyone can do it."

Cherry certainly hoped so. She'd been known to prove wrong similar declarations. One of her friends, Regina, who'd been in her class since the first grade had always made the joke that something, '_wasn't idiot-proof until it had been Cherry-tested_'.

"But...won't it hurt the pokemon, throwing a pokeball at it?" she asked the more experienced trainer, visualizing herself following the steps in her head just as Salem had described them. Visualization training, her sister called it, though it never seemed to help all that much on her math tests.

Salem made a wry expression. She supposed she must of said something stupid. "Not as much as _battling_ it will," he reminded her.

"Oh, right." Cherry frowned. When she'd decided to become a pokemon trainer, she hadn't thought about how much the pokemon might get hurt. "I didn't realize pokemon training was so...violent," she admitted, starting to reconsider what she was doing. Looking down at the pokeball in her hand that held her sister's Cubone, Bones, Cherry was starting to feel disheartened. She didn't know if she could do this...

Quickly she shook her head to clear her negative thoughts. No, Cherry _could_ do this! She had to, to prove herself to everyone. It didn't matter _what_ was involved, Cherry had already said she'd be a trainer, so that was what she was going to do! She just had to stay the course.

The novice trainer looked up and saw that Salem was regarding her strangely. Cherry must have said something dumb again.

"You _have_ seen a pokemon battle before, haven't you? Other than the one I just had with the Heracross, I mean." Salem said this as if battling was something she ought to have experience with. The fact that she couldn't say that she did sort of unnerved her. Still Cherry thought hard about the question, giving it due consideration, determined to come up with something positive to say.

"Um...I saw my sister battle someone once," she answered finally. It was back when she was, like, five, and honestly the details were sort of hazy. Cherry had never really paid attention to battles before. Sometimes she watched contests and performances when they were on, and knew enough about them to realize that Pokemon Coordinators weren't really taken seriously by _real _trainers, as those her age put it, but that was about it. Her primary interest in pokemon lay in their cuteness, really.

Salem frowned in a way that made him look a bit scary. Kind of like one of his creepy ghost pokemon. "You've never even watched the league conferences on TV?" he asked, appalled.

Cherry blinked. "What's the league conference?"

Salem looked like he was considering doing something painful to his own head before he finally sighed, and shook it clear, saying, "Never mind. Let's just catch your Sentret."

"Oh, okay." Wow, was Cherry glad that line of questioning was over...

Salem turned towards the tall grass and examined the numerous Sentret playing within as Cherry did the same. Eying their choices, Salem pointed to one nearby that was pawing playfully after a Butterfree so high in the sky that it couldn't possibly reach the bug pokemon. "How about we try that one right there?"

Cherry looked at Salem like he was crazy but the older teen didn't mirror her aversion and she was instead met with complete confusion. Obviously Salem didn't understand a thing about cuteness or appeal, and in fact she couldn't imagine what his selection criteria for a pokemon could possibly be, other than maybe proximity. His adoration of ghosts had hinted at it, but this definitely confirmed a disability in his adorableness-appreciation skill.

"Mmm...I just don't really like that one," she replied after a minute of deliberation. It would probably just distress Salem to know he had no sense for judging the style and charm of pokemon, so Cherry chose not to point it out. He was probably happier in his ignorance.

Salem raised a skeptical brow. "Why not?"

Cherry eyed the Sentret, trying to find the words to describe what was a thing of art and instinct. "It's too...brown," was what she came up with.

"You do realize that _most_ Sentret are brown," Salem deadpanned.

Cherry pouted. "But that one is just _too _brown..."

Salem stared at her for a moment, shook his head and then looked back to the Sentret-filled meadow. "Um, well, how about that one?" he suggested, pointing to another that was batting at a pebble on the ground.

"It's eyes are too far apart," she responded after looking at it. What was Salem thinking? The creature was downright googly-eyed.

Salem bit the inside of his lip, made a face and then tried again. "Then this one over here?"

Said Sentret was rolling an acorn around that was almost as big as it was. Failing at it, too. "It's too small," Cherry declared automatically.

He raised a brow and pointed at another random Sentret. "And what's wrong with this one?"

She shook her head forcefully. No no _no._ "Too wriggly," she said.

Salem frowned another scary frown at her. "Okay, now you're just messing with me," he complained.

Cherry didn't bother explaining the concept of 'wriggliness' since he'd never get it anyway. Her new mentor didn't seem to understand why it even mattered in the first place that she have a pokemon she liked. She supposed she would need to educate him.

"I only get _one_ shot at a first pokemon, so it has to be the best one," Charry told him firmly. "I mean, what if I just caught any old one and it was the ugliest Sentret that ever lived and I couldn't stand to look at it? That would be _shameful._ Who ever heard of a trainer that can't even look at her pokemon?" _She _certainly hadn't, though admittedly Cherry's knowledge was rather lacking when it came to pokemon training. Still, she assumed one probably had to interact with their pokemon in order to train them and she simply couldn't do that if she didn't approve of the creature.

"Usually it's considered part of a trainer's required skill-set to be able to appreciate and adapt to any pokemon," Salem explained to her, a bit of irritation creeping into his voice. "_Most_ trainers face destiny and work with whatever pokemon they find."

"Well, I'm not most trainers! Any old pokemon won't do, I want the _right_ pokemon!" Cherry said, a little desperately.

She stuck out her lower lip and gazed up at Salem begging for his understanding. She _needed_ this temporary mentorship to work out for the sake of her goal. Who else was going to help her catch a pokemon if not him? If her sister or friends wound up helping instead, then that would just defeat the purpose of this fiasco and everything would have been for nothing. Her silent plea seemed like it might be affecting him (maybe, hopefully) as he glanced away looking uncomfortable.

"Yeah, I can see that," Salem answered wryly, scratching his head and sighing in exasperation. "Well, I guess I can sympathize, but if you're going to be so picky this could take a while. It would help if you told me what you're looking for in a partner, exactly."

She beamed happily and answered, "Cuteness, mostly. Also sweetness."

Salem face-faulted. "That doesn't really help..."

Cherry shrugged. "Well, _I_ know what I'm looking for, and I'm not leaving until I find it!" she told him, pumping her fist in determination before she marched off towards another patch of grass.

Salem sighed and followed after her, much to her relief. Cherry had had people give up on her before for far fewer reasons than the amount of trouble she'd already caused the older teen. She was starting to feel really lucky for running into Salem. Even _if_ he didn't understand anything about cuteness.

Leading the way, Cherry trampled through the brush and tall grass, picking her path haphazardly over uneven ground and prickly plants that somehow managed to circumvent the soles of her sandals to stab her in the foot. (She was starting to rethink wearing open-toed shoes...) Cherry nearly tripped about five times and once she almost stepped on a Rattata, which scared the heck out of her and in turn freaked out Salem until he realized what had happened and shook his head silently. (If she was being honest, Salem kind of screamed like a girl. Not that there was anything wrong with being girly, Cherry just thought it was funny, since he was a guy.)

After about twenty minutes of fruitless searching, Salem sighed. "You know, this would be a _lot_ easier if you just caught one of the Sentret back down by the road. That little one was pretty cute, right?"

Cherry shot Salem a disgusted look. Was he serious? "It was scrawny," she insisted. Didn't he know that just because something was small didn't mean it was cute? The concept of cuteness was _much_ more complex then that.

Salem rolled his eyes. "Seriously, you're probably going to have to compromise a bit on your—"

Suddenly Cherry gasped. "That one! That one right there! That's it!"

They'd just crossed a tiny stream and come into a clearing when Cherry had spied the most beautiful and adorable Sentret she had ever laid eyes on. She wanted to squeal and jump up and down and she might have if she weren't hugging herself, imagining she was squeezing the furry pokemon tight. So cute! So perfect! The Sentret was dozing on a stump in the middle of a fairy circle of white mushrooms, the warm sunlight pouring down on the peacefully dreaming pokemon, providing a convenient spotlight as if to highlight it's sleeping form.

Cherry didn't know much about pokemon, but what she did know was this Sentret was sparkly and adorable, it's fur a warm tawny, it's markings and cute, perky ears a dark magenta. It was obviously the_ best, Sentret, EVER._

"_So...cute..._" she whispered in awe. Cherry thought she'd died and gone to heaven. She wouldn't have been surprised if she was foaming at the mouth. She hadn't been this giddy since her sisters had stopped letting her eat sugar.

Salem squinted into the clearing in the direction her awed face was fixated on. "Whoa, that's some unusual coloring. Pokemon like that are ultra rare!" he said excitedly and tapped Cherry on the shoulder with urgency. "Quick, Cherry, send out Bones to battle it!"

For a moment Cherry was confused. Bones? Battle? Huhwhah? (_Sentret...so...cute...) _But she hastily shook her head to clear it and adopted a determined expression. This was it! This was her chance to prove herself! "Right!" she said and fumbled at her belt for Bones' pokeball. "Bones, come on out!"

She tossed the ball and released her sister's pokemon, the Cubone appearing just as before, raring to go and scanning the clearing. Spying the Sentret snoozing innocently on the stump before him, Bones thwacked it's bone club into it's palm, looking like it was ready for business. Since Bones' business seemed to be clubbing other pokemon into unconsciousness, Cherry was a little unnerved by this.

"_Cuu~!_" Bones said.

"Bones, help me catch that Sentret!" Cherry commanded. "But...please don't hurt it too much..."

The Cubone waved a claw at her airily and said, "_Bu~bone,_"which she hoped meant something positive like, '_You can count on me!' _The ground type pokemon marched up to the resting Sentret, which wriggled its buttony nose and fluttered its fuzzy ears, opening it's sweetly sparkling eyes to see what was approaching.

Bones stopped in front of the stump and began calling out its own name, saying...something Cherry didn't understand. The Sentret stood up on its tail and eyed the Cubone curiously, sneezing as a piece of fluff drifted by on the wind.

Cherry stared._ So...cute..._"W-what's going on?" she asked her teacher after a moment.

"Bones is delivering a long speech about how he's going to kick her ass, and the Sentret is responding by using Charm to lower his attack," Salem explained, watching the proceedings with sage-like perspicacity.

"Oh," Cherry said and frowned in confusion. "Is that good or bad?"

Salem shrugged. "Charm will make Bones's attacks do less damage, but doesn't do any damage itself. Since the opponent is at a low level, Bones is a fairly high level by comparison and you aren't trying to knock it out, the attack reduction doesn't really make a difference."

Cherry understood. Mostly, sort of. "Oh okay, so...I should call out attacks now, right?" she asked, recalling the steps they'd talked about earlier.

"You got it," he told her.

"But, I don't know any of Bones' attacks...," Cherry said forlornly. She hadn't thought to ask when she went to her sister to borrow a pokemon. Cherry supposed she should have but it was far too late now, she needed to catch her perfect Sentret immediately before it was caught by someone else!

"Just look it up on your pokedex," Salem suggested with a shrug.

Cherry just stared at him dumbly and the older trainer made a face back before sighing in resignation. "You should already know this from the class you took to get your trainer card, but I guess I'll explain it anyway..."

Cherry beamed and fished around in her backpack for her pokedex. She'd taken the trainer class with her best friend Aspen, but it was a lot to remember and she didn't have the most reliable recall skills to begin with. She had her brain full just learning about gyms and the pokemon center and box system and regurgitating league rules she forgot an hour after the test. So, grateful for the refresher, Cherry listened attentively as Salem talked her through scanning a pokemon for it's stats and moveset with the device. Following his direction, she pointed her pokedex, pressed the scan button, and waited for Dexter to come up with a response.

After a pause as funny dots moved across the screen and told her it was loading, the device spat out, "_Name, Bones, Species, Cubone. Level, twenty-five. Registered trainer, Primrose Robins. Pedigree, wild caught. Met, the Rock Tunnel in the Kanto Region. Moveset, Growl, Tail Whip, Bone Club, Headbutt, Leer, Focus Energy, Bonemerang, Rage, Iron Head._"

"Which one should I use?" she asked him timidly. She really hadn't a clue what any of the attacks were supposed to do.

"Whichever one you want," Salem said, which didn't help at all. She hadn't known he was going to be one of those teachers that actually expected you to _think. _Cherry hoped he continued to be as patient as he had been so far, because thinking was never really her strong suit.

"The opponent is still using Charm on your pokemon, you know," Salem informed her in a monotone voice when she took longer than ten seconds to say anything, still lost in looking at Bones's attack list uselessly.

Cherry winced. "Um, Bones, use..." Dang it, she had _no_ idea which to pick... "Um, Rage?" she hazarded at random.

Bones glanced back at her, (for reassurance? But then why was he glaring?) made a confusing face and then took a stance facing her chosen Sentret, shouting, "_Cuu~!_"

All at once, Bones' scales took on a crimson flare, radiating energy, a fact which Cherry found sort of alarming. Was Bones going to explode? She couldn't think her sister would approve of this. Eventually the dinosaur pokemon flashed red and white, sending out pulses of power as the Sentret watched, sniffing the air casually.

Finally, Bones's eyes glowed a bright white and he shouted, "_Cuuuuu ~ BONE!"_ and her sister's pokemon unleashed a blast of red energy that kicked up dust and rushed towards the Sentret and—

Did absolutely nothing. Not that she could tell, anyway.

Cherry was _so_ confused right now...

"Wh-what happened?" she stuttered, trying to figure out what was going on. She'd called an attack, it looked like Bones had done...well, _something._ It had sure looked impressive at any rate, but the Sentret remained untouched. Did it have some kind of delayed effect or what? Man, why did battling have to be so complicated...

She looked to Salem for some kind of answer as to what she did wrong and he didn't disappoint, even though the more experienced trainer seemed to find it tiresome. "Rage works by giving back double the damage inflicted by the enemy, but the Sentret didn't do any damage so the attack petered out," Salem explained to her wearily. "Double of nothing is just nothing, after all."

Cherry groaned. Why didn't he tell her that in the first place? He was supposed to be helping her, wasn't he? Bones looked pretty annoyed as well, stomping around and grumbling under its breath, glaring, dragging its club through the dirt. Even though her sister Primrose had told him to listen to her, Cherry was wondering how long the pokemon's cooperation would last. She couldn't imagine being ordered around by a novice like herself could be fun for him.

Pouting, she couldn't help but shoot an annoyed look Salem's way, but luckily he didn't seem to notice. Sighing, she tried not to get too frustrated. "_Frustration is the enemy of progress,_" Professor Oak always said to trainers who called in asking about stuff on that radio show she listened to sometimes because she liked Mary, and he'd always given her the impression that he knew things about pokemon.

Taking up her pokedex, Cherry looked at Bones' attack list again for a different move to try. Still clueless as to which she should pick, Cherry ended up just employing the eeny-meeny-miney-moe method.

"Okay, then uh...Bones this time use...um, Growl?"

At this, Bones wailed, "_Bone~!"_ not seeming very happy. He stalked up to a largish rock and began to thwack his skull against it repeatedly with a loud _crack!_

Well...that was...different? The Sentret he was supposed to be helping her catch just made happy chortling sounds as if it found this all very entertaining and clapped its paws together in approval. (So _cute!)_

"Er, uh, Bones?" Cherry asked worriedly. Something told her this wasn't what a Growl attack was supposed to look like. And wasn't he going to get a headache doing that?

She looked over at Salem again for some answers but he was ignoring her, nodding sympathetically about something as he said (to Bones?), "Yeah...I know how you feel, buddy." Huh...

After a few good head-thwacks, Cherry saw that the Sentret had begun inching closer to the other pokemon, sniffing the air tentatively. Bones, noticing this, rounded on the pokemon and growled menacingly, saying, "_Cuu~! Bu-bone~!_" The adorable pokemon shrank away, frightened, but it didn't otherwise seem affected.

"Wait, was that it?" Cherry asked, blinking dimly. "Was that Growl? But nothing happened..."

Salem sighed in exasperation and scratched the back of his head. "It lowered the enemy's attack," he said. "Not going to help you catch it, though. Can you try a move that actually does damage next? Otherwise we'll be here all day."

Cherry couldn't help it, hot tears formed in her eyes and her lips quivered uncontrollably. God, how could she think she could do this on her own? It was impossible, Cherry was just too incompetent, she couldn't even call out attacks right, there was no way she could ever be a trainer. "_Sniffle...sniffle._" She was never going to catch this Sentret...

"Woah woah _woah!_" Salem interjected all of a sudden, stepping right in front of Cherry and glaring down at her. "What's going on? What are you crying for now?"

And now Salem was mad at her. She couldn't do anything right! "_Sniffle_," she said through gurgling tears, "I'm never going to be a trainer..._waa~ah~!_"

Cherry broke down into full-fledged wails, unable to pull herself back together. Why did nothing ever go her way? Why was she so bad at anything she really wanted to do and everyone else so effortlessly good? She was never going to amount to much of anything. Even flipping burgers was probably beyond her.

"_Waah~!_" she continued to cry, and fell down to her knees in the grass, ready to sob until she ran out of moisture and got a headache.

"Hey, stop that right now!" Salem demanded, reaching down to yank her up by her armpit. It didn't work very well since she was being limp and Salem didn't seem to want her standing up bad enough to physically pick up her dead weight, so she was only uncomfortably drawn back up onto one knee.

Salem frowned down at her, saying, "Of _course_ you'll never be a trainer if you give up now. You just started, everyone is awful at things they've only just started, so come on, get up!"

Cherry gulped back a tear and met Salem's disapproving gaze miserably. "But I—_sniffle_—but I can't even get my pokemon to attack properly—_sniffle._"

"Well, it would help if you actually knew what any of the attacks _did..._" Salem mumbled wryly.

"Exactly! I don't even know that much. I'm a useless, no-talent dunce just like Regina says!" That last part was mostly gurgling and unintelligible since she had so many liquids running down her face and the back of her throat. Ugh, crying was uncomfortable. And yet it was probably one of the few things she could do easily...

"All that stuff comes down to studying, it's not like someone is just born with knowledge like that in their head. It's your own effort that's going to take you places." Salem let go of her arm, and Cherry sat back on her knees.

Cherry sniffled and wiped her eyes as she thought this over. "M-maybe..."

"No, _definitely,_" Salem corrected her sternly, crossing his arms. "Now, at this point, I don't see any reason you can't be a great pokemon trainer, except for the fact that you seem willing to give up as soon as things get difficult. If that's as far as you want to go, then maybe Rubina or whoever is right, and I'm just wasting my time helping you. But if you really want to be a pokemon trainer, then get up _right now_, and we'll get this done and that hag can go screw herself, because you are going to have your perfect Sentret. You got that!?"

Cherry blinked up at Salem feeling invigorated and having the odd urge to salute or something. "Y-yeah! Thanks Salem, you're right! Okay, I can do this!" Cherry said to psyche herself up, clutching both hands into fists.

"Well, not from the ground you can't, get up first."

"Oh, right," Cherry said, and stood up on one knee, dusting dirt from her skirt.

It was then that she noticed the Sentret—her cute, absolutely adorable and perfect little Sentret—was but a foot away, curiously approaching her.

"Ah! S-Salem, look! It looks like its going to come over!" she shouted excitedly. She couldn't believe it! Was it destiny? Were she and this Sentret just drawn to each other by fate as soon as she'd overcome her misgivings and dedicated herself to pokemon? It seemed to Cherry that this was a definite possibility.

"Yeah, it does..." Salem agreed in a much quieter voice, dumbfounded by the pokemon's overly friendly behavior. "I guess its curious. Try not to make any sudden movements."

Cherry was hardly listening. She knelt to the ground and held out her hand, beckoning. "Come here! Come here little Sentret! You're just _so_ cute, so cute and sweet! I think that's what I'll name you, I'll name you Sweetness. You'll be my special sweet little pokemon..."

The Sentret inched closer.

"Holy shit, it's actually coming over..." Salem said in disbelief from her shoulder. He'd knelt too, apparently intrigued.

"Maybe it'll let me pet it," Cherry said and reached her hand closer as the Sentret took a few steps nearer, sniffing the air cautiously, but seemingly unafraid.

"Its a 'she' by the way," Salem said.

Cherry blinked and looked over at Salem next to her. "Huh? How can you tell?" Pokemon pretty much all looked the same to her, at least as far as telling ones gender went. Now _cuteness_ was another matter entirely.

Salem smirked. "You think I don't know a lovely lady when I see one?" he said loftily.

Cherry giggled. She turned back to the clearing where the Sentret was now almost within physical touching distance, gazing at her hand innocently. The little pokemon was _so close_, just a little more...

_Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, bonk!_

The Sentret fell flat on it's face in a daze, mere inches from her outstretched hand.

Cherry didn't really know what the heck had happened, all she knew was her precious little Sentret had conked over inches from her hand. So naturally she screamed.

"Oh my God, Sweetness!" Cherry shrieked as she stared in shock at the passed out pokemon before her. "What's happened? Are you dead? _OH MY GOD, YOU'RE DEAD!_"

"Will you _calm down? _Christ!" Salem shouted from next to her, physically shaking Cherry to get her attention. "She's not dead, okay? She's perfectly fine. Bones just gave her a cheap shot with Bonemerang."

Blinking stupidly, all Cherry could think was, '_Huh? What?'_ and '_She's dead!_' for a full minute before Salem's irritated message penetrated her fright. After that it took her another second to process '_not dead_', '_Bones_' and '_cheap shot_' but eventually she did. Belatedly looking over at Bones, who was now inspecting his claws innocently, Cherry puffed out her cheeks, feeling _pissed_.

Standing up and stamping her foot on the ground as her face flushed red with anger, Cherry shouted, "Bones! Why'd you _do_ that? You could have killed her!"

"_Cuu~,_" was all the Cubone said as he waved a claw dismissively in her general direction.

She had no idea what that meant, but it sure as hell didn't sound repentant! "I'm telling my sister on you!" she threatened.

Hah! That got his attention! The Cubone jumped to attention and started angrily shouting, "_Cubone~! Bone~! Bone~!_" Apparently he didn't want her to tell Prim, but that was exactly what she was going to do! The nerve of him, to hurt an innocent little Sentret and then act like it was nothing! What a brat!

She felt a tap on her shoulder. "Hey, Cherry, stop yelling at Bones and throw your pokeball."

Cherry looked over at Salem. "Huh?"

He frowned and pointed urgently at her poor Sentret, still lying in the clearing. "Catch it, quick, before it wakes up!"

She gasped. "Oh! Right!" It was a good thing Salem was on things. What would she have done if her Sentret woke up and fled before she'd managed to catch it? But now that wouldn't happen, she was going to collect her precious pokemon, her very first. And Cherry just _knew_ she would be well worth the trouble.

Cherry took out an empty heal ball. She'd primarily gotten it because it was pink, and now was the perfect opportunity to use it. She took aim, wound up and _threw..._

The ball landed perfectly, bouncing off the Sentret and flying back into the air. The pokemon became red energy and was sucked into the pokeball, which fell to the ground, and wiggled...and wiggled...and...clear!

Cherry ran over to the pokeball and held it aloft, feeling amazing. This was great! This was awesome! She felt like she'd never stop smiling again as she jumped up and down in the clearing, shouting, "Yes! Yes-yes-yes-yes-_yes!_"

"That was nice throw," Salem complemented her.

Cherry stuck out her tongue and flashed a victory sign happily. "Three years on the Newbark junior softball team!" she boasted. Softball was probably the only thing she was good at outside of crying, and making lemon cookies, so she was a bit proud of her throwing skills. However, something told her she'd be getting good at pokemon very soon. Nothing could stop her now!

Salem sighed. "Now that that's done, lets head back to the road, okay?"

"Okay!" Cherry said, recalling Bones, her previous anger at him already forgotten. Bounding off ahead of Salem, who seemed really tired for some reason, she was absolutely giddy. She couldn't _wait_ to show Prim and Aspen the pokemon she'd caught!

* * *

[**Meanwhile, back along route 29...]**

When Aspen had planned out his schedule for the day, '_Running For His Life From An Arbok'_ had not been on the agenda. Obviously plans tended to change.

"Is it—_huff_—still back there?" he asked Electra, using up some precious breath on the action. Aspen's lungs were starting to hurt and he just couldn't get enough air, he wasn't sure if he could run much longer. If the Arbok wasn't gone...

"You _really _need to ask that?!" the girl shouted frantically. "We are, like—_huff—_ten seconds from taking a trip through that thing's esophagus!"

Aspen scowled, even though he didn't really have the energy to spare._ God_, just because they were about to die didn't mean she had to get snippy. The girl had seemed normal enough from a distance when he'd approached her—taller than him and a little older with short blond hair, skinny blue jeans, tennis shoes and a blue and yellow short-sleeved shirt with a high collar and deep V-neck, short enough to bare her midriff. Only five minutes of knowing her and he could already tell she was the bossy type. _Ugh_.

"I was just _asking,_" he grumbled.

"_Shaah~!_" interrupted the Arbok's hiss, from_ way _too close. He didn't have to look to know it was rampaging as it slithered across the landscape, it's giant tail cracking branches like a whip, trees it rubbed against creaking from its strength.

"Less talking, more running!" Electra shouted, physically hauling him along. He couldn't say he liked it, but she was probably the only thing keeping him going at this point. Aspen had never thought he was out of shape but compared to Electra he obviously was and it might just get him eaten by a wild pokemon. Not a good thought.

He spared a glance back at the Arbok. It was following them easily. The thing was just toying with them, waiting for its prey to get tired before it gulped them down with a side of Rattata for good measure. Wonderful.

"We're going to get tired—_huff—_way before it does," he told Electra. The look on her face as they both swerved under a low bearing tree that probably wouldn't slow their chaser down for more than half a second, said she had thought the same but didn't want to say anything.

"_Huff, huff_—maybe if we double team it with our pokemon we can make some kind of stand?" Aspen suggested.

She looked reluctant. "_Huff—_might be our only choice," Electra finally agreed, which was just as well because Aspen's legs were about to give out, making the problem moot. "Okay, on three, stop running and toss out your pokemon, got it?"

He had too little breath to do anything other than nod. Damn it, he sure _hoped_ they could take this thing on with only two pokemon, both of whom had limited experience. Aspen had been reading the league field guide, but something told him that would only help so much when it came to an actual battle. While he'd been witness to quite a few, this would be the first time as an actual participant. He was confident that he had the theory down, but it would take more than solid theory to win this battle.

"Okay, one, two, _three_!" Electra shouted and came to a sliding stop, her shoes grinding against the ground for traction as she simultaneously tossed out a pokeball from her belt. "Come on out, Luster!"

Performing likewise, Aspen stopped and threw his only pokeball, hoping like hell this would work. "Go, Totodile!"

From Electra's pokeball a bold Shinx appeared. Shouting an excited, "_Shii~!_" it threw off tiny sparks, ready for battle. But only an instant later it made something like a grimace as it noticed the giant, salivating snake eying the electric cub like a tasty snack that had come to a stop only a few feet away.

Aspen's pokeball returned to him upon releasing his own pokemon, and the new trainer got a good look at it for the first time since choosing it this morning at Professor Birch's lab. "_To~to~to~to~toh~!_" the pokemon said, clacking its jaws as it examined its surroundings. It too noticed the Arbok immediately. Not that it was hard to miss.

"_To~toh~?_" the Totodile hazarded, as if it had trouble processing the situation it found itself in, so sudden and ridiculous was it. Aspen didn't really blame the pokemon, he wasn't all that sure we wasn't just having a really awful dream himself.

Electra's Shinx, Luster however, seemed all too aware of how real and incredibly messed up their chances were, and shouted a dubious, "_Shi~inx~!?_" back to it's trainer.

Electra winced and answered her pokemon apologetically. "I know that Arbok looks tough, Luster, but we don't have a lot of options. If we can't make it back off, then we're snake food."

"_Shii_...," the Shinx said doubtfully, regarding the huge Arbok with apprehension.

"Just do your best," Electra said and pumped a fist in encouragement. "I know that we can do this if we work together!"

The pokemon nodded and turned back to the Arbok with renewed confidence. "_Shii~! Shi~shiinx~!_" It said, hunching its back, ready to receive commands from its trainer.

Aspen scratched the back of his head nervously. He supposed he ought to say something to his pokemon as well, since he was expecting it to save his life. He glanced down at the Totodile who seemed to be mildly freaking out. "Uh, Totodile?"

"_To~toh~?_" it asked, gazing up at him expectantly with its big blue crocodilian eyes full of trust. Whatever its trainer said next would make everything better, certainly. He could turn the tide and empower his pokemon with his words. Probably. Maybe.

Aspen's hand moved to scratch his jaw. "Well, um...good luck," he said lamely.

"_Toh~?!_" the Totodile exclaimed, going slack-jawed in alarm.

Aspen supposed he should have made the effort to sound more comforting, or reliable or something, like Electra. Well, too late now. He wasn't good at any of that stuff anyway.

The new trainer suddenly coughed as Electra elbowed him in the gut to get his attention. "Okay, kid, here's the plan. We Leer and then we Tackle, got it?" she said.

"My Totodile knows Scratch, not Tackle." Some trainer she was, if she didn't even know _that_.

Electra rolled her eyes. "_Not _important, just attack with all you've got. Got it?"

Aspen nodded. "Yeah." It wasn't like he had a better plan, and the strategy was sound. Lower defense and then attack. It was the very first strategy outlined in the 'battle help' section of the league field guide.

"Alright! Let's go, Luster, use Leer!" Electra commanded, her voice carrying the authority and confidence of a seasoned battler.

"_Shii~!_" her Shinx responded, leaping into action. The lightning pokemon yowled and shot its opponent a harsh Leer, the snake responding with an angry, "_Shaar~bok~!_"

"Totodile, you too!" Aspen commanded.

"_Toh~!"_ his pokemon said and followed orders, despite his earlier misgivings. The crocodile pokemon glared down the Arbok, who seemed to be getting more annoyed by the minute but had yet to attack, possibly finding the multiple targets difficult to pay attention to. Even though the opponent seemed content to confront the two attacking pokemon for the moment, Aspen didn't have faith that it would last.

"You know, its really not helping that this Arbok has the Intimidate ability," Aspen noted.

"Shh!" Electra hushed him, without taking her eyes from the battle. "Alright Luster, give that snake a Tackle attack!"

"_Shiinx~!_"

Aspen was right with her. "You attack too, Totodile. Scratch!"

"_Toh~!_"

The two pokemon raced towards the Arbok, Luster with his head down, ready to barrel into its aggressor, Totodile with its claw razed for a Scratch attack. The opponent hissed and spat a trail of wicked needles glowing purple with poison, aiming right at the two smaller pokemon. Aspen didn't have to yell for his pokemon to evade it. Obviously the sickly smell of corrosion coming from the speeding pellets was warning enough. The Totodile managed to stumble out of the way before getting hit and Luster managed to do the same, the nimbleness from his electric typing coming into good use.

"Split up! Luster, attack it from the left! Don't give it a clear shot of you both together, make him _work_ for it!" Electra shouted from his side, and Aspen blinked in surprise as her pokemon leapt to fulfill her command. That was good thinking. There was no need for both pokemon to make themselves an easy target. Splitting up would heighten their evasion, as well as opening up the opponent for an attack. Aspen was starting to think they had a chance.

"Listen to what she says, Totodile. Split up and attack from the opposite side!" he called out.

"_Toh~!_" his pokemon responded as he dodged the projectile needles, running around to their opponents right.

The Arbok seemed confused now, alternating sides as it shot off one Poison Sting volley after another, never quite getting time to set up a good shot before he had to head off the other pokemon from getting close enough to attack.

_Tackle! Scratch! Tackle! _Between them the two pokemon were managing to land some good shots.

"Great job, you two, keep it up!" Electra called out.

As Luster barked at the Arbok, challenging it, Aspen's Totodile jumped in from the other side, ready to land another Scratch. But the Arbok hissed furiously and whirled around.

"Watch out!" he said, but was way too late. The Arbok landed a powerful swipe of his tail, knocking the Totodile off balance before scooping him up in a deadly Wrap.

"_T-toh~!_" his pokemon cried out as the Arbok squeezed him tight, glaring down at him menacingly with its dark eyes and flicking tongue.

Aspen flushed pale and cold sweat gathered on his back. "Totodile!" he called out. They'd only been together a short while, but the crocodile pokemon had defended him bravely in his time of need. This wasn't right, this couldn't be happening!

"Luster, Tackle that snake, make it let got of Totodile!" Electra commanded her Shinx earnestly.

"_Shii~!_" the pokemon shouted and ran full tilt into the Arbok, but it's huge mass of coils barely seemed to be feeling it. Meanwhile, his Totodile was struggling but barely able to move, caught as he was in the Arbok's grasp.

_Damn it!_ Aspen thought. _Damn it all! _Looking around frantically for something, _anything_, he saw a few pebbles and scrambled to gather them up, dropping a few in his urgency.

"Get the hell away from my Totodile!" he shouted, and tossed one of his pebbles, aiming for their monstrous aggressor. The first missed entirely, and the second bounced harmlessly off the thing's massive bulk, but the third by some fluke of desperation pelted the pokemon right in the eye.

"_Shaaa~!_" the Arbok recoiled, and spat a stream of acid in his direction.

Aspen's eyes widened as the stream headed straight for him.

"Get down you idiot!" was all he heard before a swift kick to his thigh had him slamming into the ground, the stream of noxious liquid flying passed him. Aspen's eyes widened as he watched a hole spread out from the Acid attack's splash, where it had hit the trunk of a large tree by the road, poisonous fumes rising from the gaping opening. He took a deep shuddering breath, realizing that Electra's quick thinking had probably just saved his life.

The sound of his pokemon crying out, "_Toh~toh~dile~!_" brought his attention back to the present situation, as fucked up as it was.

"Damn it!" Aspen cursed from his place laying on the ground, his fingers digging into the beaten earth as they formed a fist. What was he supposed to do? What _could_ he do? There had to be a way out of this, some obvious response, maybe one they had gone over in trainer orientation or something, but he just couldn't think of any. Damn it. _Damn it!_

He grit his teeth. Was this it? Was his journey as a pokemon trainer, reluctant as it had initially been, over so quickly? Was this really as far as he could go? Was this as far as his strength could take him?

_Bonk!_

A bone club ricocheted of the Arbok's head, which suddenly snapped back in a daze. The club whirled back into the opposite direction to be caught by a tough Cubone that aimed it's weapon at the giant snake like a sword, shouting a defiant "_Cuu~!_"

The wild Arbok shook its head, uncoiling it's tail and releasing Aspen's Totodile to flop onto the ground, breathing heavily as it it struggled to recover. Luster was instantly at the hurt pokemon's side, standing guard while the Totodile shook off the attack as best it could.

The Arbok rounded on its attackers, hissing in anger and frustration, readying a Bite attack when suddenly a pale blue energy lifted the huge pokemon from the ground and it flew across the landscape, smashing hard into a tree a few yards away, scattering loose leaves and sticks all about.

Aspen blinked in confusion but his concern for his pokemon won out over the shock and curiosity and he stumbled to his feet, running to pick up his Totodile. From behind him he heard Electra shout, _"Finally_! What the hell took you so long?" Someone else responded, but he wasn't really paying attention.

"Totodile, are you okay?" he asked his starter as he scooped him up in his arms. Electra's Shinx raised up on it's back legs, his front paws on his arm as it gave its battle partner a worried, "_Shii~?_"

"_Toh~!_" the crocodile said to them both, seeming tired and achy but without any life-threatening injuries. Aspen sighed. _That_ was a hell of a relief.

"_Cuu~! Bone~bone~!_" he heard, and looked over to see Cherry, ) standing next to her sister Primrose's Cubone, looking on nervously as Electra berated some guy he'd never seen before. Aspen let loose another sigh of relief. At least now he knew he and Electra were supposed to be appetizers and that Arbok hadn't already snacked on her before before going after them. But then again, now she was in the same boat as he was.

He saw that Electra was confronting the mystery-guy, making huge, frantic gestures with her hands. "I was sending out freaking psychic _lightning bolts!_ Are you telling me you never picked up a thing?" she complained angrily to the taller dark-haired teen. From the pokeball on his belt he was also a trainer, no doubt the one that she had been waiting for when Aspen came across her.

"It doesn't _work_ that way, Electra. _You're_ not psychic, and _I'm_ not a goddamn radio antenna!" the guy replied indignantly.

Seeing that the two were busy, Aspen trotted over to Cherry. "You okay?" he asked her.

"Oh, I'm fine, are _you_ okay?" she asked earnestly, biting her lower lip as she saw his injured Totodile in his arms. "Is your pokemon alright? It was being squeezed by that big snake! Thankfully Salem was able to throw it off. But _ah,_ I can't believe he did that! It's just like those psychics on TV! Like Sabrina in that one _Pokestar Studios_ movie—"

Aspen had to shake his head so as not to get caught up in Cherry's monologue. This was why he worried about her. She was talking about movies of all things while there was a _huge freaking snake_ waiting to gulp them down only a few feat away and it wouldn't stay down for long, not something that big and powerful.

Warily eying the weird guy talking to Electra he interrupted his best friend, whispering, "Hey, what are you doing with this guy?" behind a hand as he jammed a covert thumb in the new person's direction

"Oh, that's Salem," she answered him as if this explained everything, but Aspen was used to her and waited patiently for her to elaborate, which she did. "He saved me from a Heracross and helped me catch a Sentret," she explained brightly. Cherry blinked as something occurred to her then suddenly grinned, pulling out a pink pokeball. "Oh! You have to see Sweetness, my new Sentret!" she squealed, hugging the ball to her excitedly. "_Kyaa~!_ She's just so cute!"

Aspen shook his head before she could get going. As genuinely happy as he was for Cherry and curious to meet her pokemon himself, this was definitely not the time. "Later," he promised, "first we've got to clear out and head back home." Putting his hands on her shoulders, he pointed her in the direction of Electra and her friend, heading away from the Arbok's crash site.

"Oh, okay," she answered, only a little disappointed.

The Salem guy and Electra were still arguing. "Just use Fog!" she told him, both hands on her hips.

Her friend frowned, saying, "I don't _have_ Fog, remember?"

"Then use Pharoah!"

"I don't _have_ Pharaoh, I only have Charisma! I left them all at home, same as you did!"

Electra threw her head back and groaned angrily. "_Ugh!_ I know, I know! I'm just desperate over here!"

Salem shook his head. "Whatever, lets just get out of here before that Arbok gets up—"

"_Shaa~bok~!_"

"Too late!" Electra leaped into a sprint, recalling her Shinx as she did so. Aspen took the time to grab Cherry by the arm, tugging her away from the recovering Arbok, as Bones shouted, "_Cuu~!_" and scuttled after them hastily.

"Cherry, recall Bones!" he said, taking out Totodile's pokeball and stowing him safely inside.

"Oh, right!" Cherry said, and zapped Bones before they both took off running. As she did so, Aspen saw Electra's friend make a glowing gesture with his hand that sent the Arbok flying once again into a grove, branches and leaves blowing into the air in a flurry of debris from its impact. As soon as the blue energy propelling the Arbok disappeared Salem came dashing after them, his longer legs letting him catch up to the group without too much trouble.

_Woah_, Aspen thought, dumbfounded by this display of psychic power. It was the first time he'd ever seen something like it in person.

"_Huff_—Salem, hit it again! Psychic attack, go!" Electra shouted at the top of her lungs as she ran flat out. She was by far the fastest of the group, outpacing them all. Ironically, Aspen thought that she probably didn't have to be so worried about their tail—the Arbok would be happily swallowing the rest of them one after another before it managed to catch up to her, and by then it would probably be full.

"I'm not a freaking pokemon!" the new guy complained, nearly tripping over a bush in his way. "And—_huff_— you _know_ I can't lift something as heavy as that beast of an Arbok while I'm running—_huff_—and I am sure as _hell_ not about to stand there and let it eat me while I'm trying to grab it again!"

Electra looked behind her and shot Salem an annoyed face. "_Psh,_ what good _are_ you then...," she grumbled.

Salem scowled. "Hey! Don't get bitchy just because we're all about to die!"

"_Can you people just fucking run!_" Aspen shouted over them angrily. _God!_ He couldn't even freaking _die_ in peace over here!

"_Huff_-_huff_—!" Beside him, Cherry was struggling to keep up. Not only was she the shortest out of everyone present, but she was also wearing inadequate footwear. He didn't know how many times he'd told her she should wear comfortable shoes when she was trekking through nature, but obviously this time, as with every time before, she hadn't listened to him. Or more likely just forgotten about it two minutes after he'd told her.

"_Bok~! Shaa~!_" hissed the Arbok, gaining on them as it twisted between trees, shrubs and along animal trails.

Ahead of them, Aspen saw Electra take a tricky path over some large rocks and between two close growing trees. He followed her, only to have Cherry slip on one of the boulders. Her sandal slid against a steep rock-face, bringing her to one knee and almost pulling him down with her. He stopped to haul her up, but the Arbok was closing in, it's slitted eyes hungry, forked tongue tasting the air as it reared back and spread its hood. Electra's friend Salem backtracked, trying to help him pull Cherry to her feet, but their frantic scrambling was having the opposite affect.

_Shit,_ he thought, flinching. _Shit!_

"Jingle, Extrasensory!"

"_Chime~!_"

A Chimecho suddenly materialized, levitating between Cherry and the Arbok, who was frozen in mid-slither, it's eyes glowing with golden energy as it took an invisible psychic attack. When Cherry's sister Primrose appeared at his side, her lab coat and the long, wavy maroon hair flowing from her side-bun flapping in the breeze, relief flooded through him. Saved! They were saved!

"Sis!" Cherry said excitedly.

The woman winked, smiling kindly at the younger sister that was practically her daughter, and turning to Aspen, gave him a big thumbs up. "Good job finding Cherry, Aspen. You can let me and Jingle handle the rest."

Aspen just nodded, feeling numb as Prim faced the Arbok, still frozen in place by her Chimecho's attack. She crossed her arms beneath her breasts, glaring down the immobile pokemon like the furious guardian she was.

"Now, I don't know what you're doing here outside your normal range," she said, addressing the Arbok, "but no one gets to _my_ little sister without going through me first. Chimecho?"

"_Chime~!_" called her pokemon, ready for its orders.

"Thunderwave!" Prim yelled, stabbing a finger at their opponent.

"_Chime~! Chiime-echo~!_" it said, and small filaments of electricity traced their way over the gold nob on its head before striking the Arbok down with a powerful flash of lightning.

"_Shaa~!_" the pokemon hissed angrily before it fell to the ground, paralyzed.

Not wasting any time, Prim drew a blue great ball from her lab coat pocket and threw it at the motionless pokemon, its body still crackling with paralyzing electricity. It flew in a perfect arc, the result of much practice, and as soon as the ball hit, the Arbok was sucked inside. The ball drop to the ground, rolling to the center of the indent the heavy pokemon made in the earth when it fell.

Aspen watched with baited breath as the ball wiggled once, twice, three times, and..._clear_!

Primrose walked over to the great ball and picked it up, slipping it into her pocket. "And that is that," she said.

* * *

**Event Summery:**

_**- Cherry** caught **Sentret**! **Sentret** has been named **Sweetness**._

_**- Electra** and **Aspen** tried to run from the **Wild Arbok**. They couldn't escape!_

_- Primrose's **Jingle** defeated **Arbok**._

_- Primrose's **Jingle** received **experience**!_

_**- Bones** received **experience**!_

_- Electra's **Luster** and Aspen's **Totodile** received **experience**!_

_**- Luster** grew to **level 11!**_

_**- Totodile** grew to **level 8!**_


End file.
